(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)
Our 2008 trip to Iceland was so much fun that we decided to continue our Northern theme and visit Norway in 2010. Once again, we braced ourselves for high Scandinavian prices…and found them! Our trip began in the coastal city of Bergen and ended in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. In between: lots and lots of fjords!
From Bergen, we took a relatively high-speed boat up the Sognefjord to the resort village of Balestrand. The scenery along the way was impressive but not astounding: near the ocean, the Sognefjord is too wide to make you feel completely surrounded. Balestrand was still a very pleasant base for our exploration of the area, however, and we were able to explore a number of the narrower (and more dramatic) fjords from here. We stayed in a characterful hotel overlooking the Sognefjord and had a delightful al fresco dinner in an orchard just down the street.
Balestrand also had an interesting aquarium with an even more interesting promotion: a ticket to the aquarium came with a free canoe rental. Well, we just had to take advantage of that! While it certainly wasn’t part of our plan, we can now say that we have been canoeing in the fjords of Norway!
We took two interesting trips from Balestrand. The first was to the Hopperstad stave church at Vik. These wooden churches are obviously very vulnerable to fire, so there are only a few surviving examples. This one is approximately 900 years old and is built on the ruins of an even older church. Internal photos are not allowed but I can tell you that it is very dark inside.
The second trip was a “Glacier Tour”to Fjærland. The boat trip to Mundal (the village in Fjærland) was amazing: the fjords looked like the ones in all the tourist brochures. The photo at the top of this post was taken on the way. Alas, the Glacier Tour itself was rather underwhelming. We didn’t get very close to the glacier itself, as it has been retreating for a number of years but the tour infrastructure (road, glacier museum, etc.) has naturally remained in the same place. It was a pleasant day but we will definitely be more selective about glacier tours in the future.
After a few days in Balestrand, we made the long journey by boat and train to Oslo. We took the Flamsbana from Flåm to Myrdal; it is advertised as the most scenic train ride in the world. While it is undeniably beautiful, it is perhaps a little overdeveloped for tourism. For evidence, see the photograph below. The train stopped for photographs at a dramatic waterfall and, on cue, a collection of mystical maidens suddenly emerged to the musical accompaniment of a stirring symphony and re-enacted a folk tale. Very cheesy.
Actually, we shouldn’t have been surprised. The Flamsbana is part of the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour: it is a highly coordinated (and choreographed) route designed to show some of Norway’s greatest natural highlights. While it would be fine for somebody who only had a day to see the fjords and mountains, we felt somewhat “herded” on this part of our journey. We preferred spending a few days in the fjords and exploring on our own. Norway is a beautiful country and it doesn’t need to rely on gimmicks to impress.
Stay tuned for more flashbacks and other travel surprises!